Case
Taming the Raging Bully!
A Case Study Critically
Exploring Anti-bullying
Measures to Support
Neurodiverse Employees
South Asian Journal of
Business and Management Cases
9(1) 54–67, 2020
© 2019 Birla Institute of Management Technology
Reprints and permissions:
in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india
DOI: 10.1177/2277977919881406
journals.sagepub.com/home/bmc
Damian Mellifont1
Abstract
Disclosure of neurodiversity in the workplace can attract unfavourable attention. The aim of this case
study is to critically investigate the collective potential of specialized and generic mental health promotion guides to help prevent or treat the bullying of neurodiverse employees. Applying qualitative
thematic analysis to eight of these guides originating from Australia, Canada and England, this research
offers three key messages that should be of interest to policymakers and practitioners working in the
Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere. First, guides as reviewed by this study collectively support antibullying themes across dimensions of policy/procedures, education, legal, leadership and monitoring/
support. Second, evidence sourced from scholarly and grey literature raise challenges that if overlooked might reduce the effectiveness of guide endorsed anti-bullying measures. Finally, this study raises
the prospect that anti-bullying measures to assist mentally diverse staff might be more effective when
potential synergies between these are recognized and encouraged.
Keywords
Attitudes, Australia, bullying, case study, neurodiversity
Workplace bullying comes in many varieties (Bond, Tuckey, & Dollard, 2010). These range from
covert actions, which include rumour-mongering about people with the aim of hurting their status
(O’Rourke & Antioch, 2016), undertaking unfair criticisms and dismissing a person’s standpoint
Disclaimer: This case is written for classroom discussion and is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling
of an administrative situation, or to represent successful or unsuccessful managerial decision-making, or endorse the views of
the management. The views and opinions expressed in this case are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official
policy or position of South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases.
1
Centre for Disability Research and Policy, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Corresponding author:
Damian Mellifont, Centre for Disability Research and Policy, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
E-mail: damian.mellifont@sydney.edu.au
Mellifont
55
(Australian Human Rights Commission [AHRC], 2010), through to physical or verbal mistreatment
(Bytheway, Warner, & Cotchin, 2012). Butterworth, Leach, and Kiely (2016, p. 1086) stated that bullying
is ‘characterized by behaviour that harasses, offends, socially excludes or interferes with the job
performance of victims.’ Other definitions highlight inappropriate behaviours, which are repeated across
a time interval to achieve power advantages over others who have problems in protecting themselves
(Alberta Health Services [AHS], 2014; Branch, Ramsay, & Barker, 2013; Ternan, Dollard, & LaMontagne,
2013). Hence, ‘one-off’ behaviour cannot be considered to be bullying, nor can conflicts among two
individuals holding a similar level of power (Bond et al., 2010; Glambek, Skogstad, & Einarsen, 2016).
Bullying can involve a multitude of minor actions that together represent methodical mistreatment
(Salin, 2008). Nielsen and Knardahl (2015) describe bullying as a two-stage process with the first stage
consisting of repeated bullying conduct and the second where the person feels victimized by such
conduct. Devonish (2017) also recognizes perceptions of victimization as one of the broadly accepted
characteristics of bullying in the workplace. Bullying tends to be seen as an interchange among a victim
and an offender (Wu & Wu, 2018). Furthermore, it should be appreciated that bullying is not necessarily
confined to the behaviours of a sole perpetrator. Indeed, bullying can be contagious in the sense that,
‘bullies breed new bullies’ (Paterson, 2011, p. 113). The risk being that some neurodiverse employees
might find themselves the target of group bullying (i.e., ‘mobbing’) activity. Disturbingly, persons
partaking in mobbing can submit to peer pressures, which are more commonly related to adolescents
(Canadian Mental Health Association [CMHA], 2018).
Workplace Bullying Prevalence and Consequences
Bullying in the workplace represents a serious and prevalent matter (O’Rourke & Antioch, 2016).
Numerous studies support this position. For example, the Lee and Brotheridge (2006, p. 365) study of
180 Canadian employees revealed, ‘we found that 72 respondents, or 40 per cent of the sample, reported
that they had experienced one or more acts of bullying or aggressive behaviours at least once per week
in the past 6 months.’ Moreover, a study of seven National Health Service trusts located in England
found bullying to be a substantial issue (Carter et al., 2013). From the USA, a national survey conducted
in 2010 reported 35 per cent of American workers directly experiencing bullying in the workplace
(Boccio & Macari, 2014, p. 36 citing Workplace Bullying Institute, 2010). The Australian Workplace
Barometer study described almost 7 per cent of employees experiencing bullying across a half-year
timeframe (Leach, Poyser, & Butterworth, 2016, p. 1 citing Dollard et al., 2012). New Zealand research
involving more than 1700 participants revealed workplace bullying experiences across the past half-year
period being reported within almost 18 per cent of responses (O’Driscoll et al., 2011). Further, in noting
that more than one-fifth of Finnish public-sector respondents reported having experienced task-oriented
bullying on multiple occasions each month, Venettoklis and Kettunen (2016, p. 378) proceeded to
suggest that public sector bullying is apparently more prevalent than that found in the private sector. This
disparity is explained in terms of private sector economics encouraging managers to promptly address
bullying behaviour (Venettoklis & Kettunen, 2016). Nevertheless, the broad extent of workplace bullying
should be recognized. Nielsen, Matthiesen, and Einarsen (2010) and Nielsen and Knardahl (2015,
p. 129) posited that globally an estimated 15 per cent of employees are objects of methodical bullying
activity while 11 per cent feel that they are victims of this activity.
The practical implications of workplace bullying statistics should not be understated. Bullying has significant outcomes for individuals, workplaces as well as society (Worth & Squelch, 2015).
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For people who closely relate to their work roles, being bullied can be shattering (Lutgen-Sandvik,
2008). Meglich-Sespico, Faley, and Knapp (2007) warn that persistent mistreatment impacts targets’
mental health. Bytheway et al. (2012, p. 17) elaborated that ‘there is a range of psychological and
physical illnesses and injuries that can be caused by exposure to bullying in the workplace, including
anxiety disorders, stress, depression, and insomnia.’ Referencing a Tehrani (2004) study involving health
care professionals, Bond et al. (2010) reported that victims along with others who witness bullying
behaviours can show symptoms suggestive of post-traumatic stress. In addition, on-going mobbing can
corrode the victim’s self-esteem and confidence (CMHA, 2018), while holding other serious implications
including psychological harm, unemployment and suicidal issues (Paterson, 2011). Bullying also has
broad-ranging implications for organizations and their practices. In this regard, Harrington, Rayner, and
Warren (2012) advise that HR practitioners might be suspicious of victims’ bullying reports against their
managers. While tending to lower the work performances of those bullied, bullying can see workplaces
suffering from reduced productivity, greater absence from work and low morale (Bytheway et al., 2012;
Samnani & Singh, 2014). Crucially at a social level, Paterson (2011) cautioned, when citizens learn of
bullying practice within the public service, society itself is worse off.
Workplace Bullying and Neurodiverse Employees
Triggers for workplace bullying are not thoroughly comprehended (Dhar, 2012). More specifically,
individual precursors to this behaviour have been less broadly examined than organizational factors
(Francioli et al. 2016 citing Glaso, Nielsen, & Einarsen, 2009). Vickers (2015) also indicates that
investigations into the bullying of persons with disability are infrequent. Nevertheless, it is important to
consider what is known about neurodiversity in terms of attracting bullying behaviour in the workplace.
CMHA (2018) cautioned that mentally diverse persons can often be on the receiving end of bullying,
mockery and rejection. According to the AHRC (2010), mental ill health can produce misinterpretation,
perplexity and occasionally alarm. Following on, Broomhall (2013, p. 2) describes a survey involving
American, Australian, English and Irish respondents whereby 85 per cent of individuals who disclosed
their mental ill health in the workplace perceived that this disclosure held an unfavourable influence.
Citing Felson (1992), Einarsen (2000) also suggests that individuals who break with social customs
involving polite exchanges may readily evoke aggression from others. Further, Beecher (2003) warns
that a precarious situation can become apparent where empathy deficient staff move to single out
mentally unwell employees to be bullied. Staff who have invisible conditions are as likely, or potentially
more likely to be mistreated than those with visible conditions (Fevre, Robinson, Lewis, & Jones, 2013,
p. 303). Howard, Johnston, Wech, and Stout (2016) suggest that organizations should comprehend and
comprehensively deal with workplace bullying. An important part of this understanding is to better grasp
ways in which to support neurodiverse employees who might find themselves as targets for workplace
bullies. Hence, when considering the particular needs of mentally diverse staff at risk of being bullied or
who are presently experiencing this unethical behaviour, it is proper that HR practitioners working in the
Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere have access to resources, which might assist in their ability to handle
these situations. One such possible resource is that of workplace mental health promotion guides. These
guides endeavour to promote mental health among mentally diverse staff members (i.e., specialized
guides) or to support the mental well-being of these persons along with others throughout the workplace
(i.e., generic guides). This exploratory study thus aims to critically investigate the collective potential of
these guides to help prevent or treat the bullying of neurodiverse employees.
Mellifont
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Methods
This research follows the Yin (2004) three-step approach to conduct case study research. These steps are
as follows: a) defining the case study; b) determining whether to conduct single or multiple cases; and c)
deciding whether to commence with a theoretical standpoint. The case for this study is defined as a
mental health promotion guide with the potential to help prevent or treat the bullying of staff who
are experiencing mental health challenges. Applying purposeful sampling, cases (i.e., guidelines) were
identified by executing the Internet search term: bully* AND ‘employees with mental illness’. These
search terms were designed to produce results of sufficient volume and content so as to effectively
inform the study aim. Inclusion criteria were as follows: the case is publicly accessible; the case is
identified as a guide promoting the mental health of neurodiverse employees or mental well-being of all
staff (including those with mental ill health), the case offers measure(s) with potential to help prevent
and/or treat the bullying of neurodiverse employees; and the case is unique (i.e., not repeated in search
results). Deciding not to commence with a theoretical position and applying the Braun and Clarke (2006)
approach to conducting the thematic analysis, themes were inductively derived from the case studies.
Within this approach, the author undertook an iterative process of reading the cases (i.e., guidelines),
locating themes, specifying and defining themes, reassessing themes and recording findings in an
analytical table. Analysis of guideline endorsed anti-bullying themes was not undertaken unquestioningly.
Enabling this critical assessment, a Google Scholar search for recently published journal articles (i.e.,
since 2013) using the search terms ‘bullying at work’ AND ‘targets’ AND ‘mental illness’ was applied.
Relevant results were confined to journal articles meeting the inclusion criterion of supporting and/or
challenging one or more of the mental health promotion guide’s informed themes. Grey literature meeting
this inclusion criterion and sourced from the aforementioned Internet search query was also accepted as
being relevant to this critical investigation.
Results
Internet search terms ‘bully’ and ‘employees with mental illness’ produced 58 results. Of these
possibilities, eight cases (i.e., guidelines) were identified with five of these published in Canada, two in
Australia and one in England. A total of five of these guides broadly support mental health for all staff
members—including those with mental illness (AHRC, 2010; AHS, 2014; Canadian Cancer Society
[CCS], 2012; CMHA, 2018; Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace, 2017), with
three targeting the mental well-being of employees with mental ill health (Mood Disorders Society of
Canada, 2014; Rethink, 2009; WorkCover SA, 2012). Thematic analysis results involving the cases are
provided in Table 1, which includes all themes, coding rules to advance the transparency and reliability
of results, along with supporting quotes. These themes consist of policy/procedures; education; legal;
leadership; and monitoring/support. After applying the inclusion criterion to the 103 possibly relevant
documents as identified from the Google Scholar search, eight journal articles were accepted (Butterworth
et al., 2016; Fevre et al., 2013; Karatuna, 2015; Mulder, Pouwelse, Lodewijkx, Bos, & Dam, 2016;
Palmer & Ross, 2014; Shallcross, Ramsay, & Barker, 2013; Vickers, 2014; Worth & Squelch, 2015).
Grey literature retrieved from the Internet search and those meeting inclusion criterion, thereby critically
contributing to theme discussion included three news articles, one public paper and a ‘JobWatch’
submission to the Parliament of Victoria’s Inquiry into Workforce Participation by People with Mental
Illness (Beecher, 2003; Bevan, 2016; Breden, 2014; Bytheway et al., 2012; Vidot, 2014). Data (i.e.,
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South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases 9(1)
Table 1. Case Study Coding Results
Theme
Coding Rule
Policy
Policy/procedures to help
prevent/address the bullying of
employees (including those with
mental illness).
Education
Legal
Exemplary Quotes
‘a policy related to harassment and bullying (or include this in
an OHS or equity policy)’. (AHRC, 2010, p. 24)
‘Implement anti-bullying and workplace harassment policies
and have conflict resolution practices in place’. (CCS, 2012)
‘Organizations must implement policies and practices
that promote and protect employee mental health and
psychological safety’. (CMHA, 2018, p. 34)
‘Policies exist for psychological protection – anti-retaliation,
anti-bullying, and anti-harassment’. (Mood Disorders Society of
Canada, 2014, p. 37)
‘Ensure that work policies stress zero tolerance to bullying
and harassment in the workplace’. (WorkCover SA, 2012, p. 9)
‘In developing a policy to prevent harassment or bullying, the
focus needs to be on preventing and responding to behaviours
that are offensive or potentially harmful to others’. (GreatWest Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace, 2017)
Educate staff to help prevent/
‘Develop greater understanding through education and
address the bullying of employees training’; ‘mental health awareness training’; ‘bullying and
(including those with mental
harassment’; ‘diversity and disability awareness training’.
illness).
(AHRC, 2010, p. 25)
‘Create awareness of what bullying is, how to address bullying
behaviours and how to report bullying’. (AHS, 2014, pp. 17–18)
‘Provide conflict resolution and emotional intelligence training
for all managers that specifically considers employee mental
health concerns’. (Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health
in the Workplace, 2017)
‘Ensure that work policies stress zero tolerance to bullying
and harassment in the workplace and that the consequences
of that behaviour are clearly explained’. (WorkCover SA,
2012, p. 9)
‘It is the legal duty of an employer to protect the mental and
Legal instruments to help
physical health of employees.’ ‘That means protection from
prevent/address the bullying of
harassment, violence, and bullying’. (CMHA, 2018, p. 33)
employees (including those with
mental illness).
‘Essentially, new legal standards are not permitting conduct
that would have been tolerated less than a decade ago’.
(CMHA, 2018, p. 57, citing Guarding Minds@Work, 2009)
‘Legal review of the policy, if appropriate’. (Great-West Life
Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace, 2017)
‘the law (Disability Discrimination Act 1995) says that
people with disabilities must not be at a disadvantage in the
workplace, or when looking for work’. (Rethink, 2009, p. 5)
‘there are legal risks for employers who neglect the
psychological well-being of their employees’. (Mood Disorders
Society of Canada, 2014, p. 32)
(Table 1 continued)
59
Mellifont
(Table 1 continued)
Theme
Coding Rule
Exemplary Quotes
Leadership
Leaders to help prevent/address
the bullying of employees
(including those with mental
illness).
Monitoring/
Support
Monitoring/support activities to
help prevent/address the bullying
of employees (including those
with mental illness).
‘The individual needs to be able to trust that their manager,
and their colleagues, will not let them down by treating them
badly if they disclose or have adjustments provided’. (Rethink,
2009, p. 18)
‘setting an expectation that all employees and leadership
interact in ways that are calm, mindful of one another’s
contributions and opinions and which promote dialogue
among team members’. (Mood Disorders Society of Canada,
2014, p. 43)
‘This document aims to help leaders create and maintain a
psychologically safe workplace’. (AHS, 2014, p. 3)
‘include a statement from top management to all workers stating
that bullying is inappropriate and will not be tolerated’. (CMHA,
2018, p. 34 citing Government of Western Australia, 2006)
‘Leadership development should integrate bullying and
harassment prevention’. (Great-West Life Centre for Mental
Health in the Workplace, 2017)
‘Check in with staff at monthly team meetings to ensure
that no bullying behaviours are displayed and that people are
treating each other with respect’. (AHS, 2014, p. 18)
‘clearly state that retaliation against or victimization of
workers who report workplace bullying will not be tolerated’.
(CMHA, 2018, p. 35)
‘Support from Human Resources to manage problematic
relationships at work, or bullying, should also be provided’.
(Rethink, 2009, p. 28)
Source: The author.
quotes and paraphrases) as derived from these scholarly and grey literature sourced texts are referenced
in the next section under the respective theme headings to which they speak.
Discussion
Policy and Procedures
Anti-bullying policy is endorsed within specialized mental health promotion guides (Mood Disorders
Society of Canada, 2014; WorkCover SA, 2012) and also among generic guides (AHRC, 2010; CCS,
2012; CMHA, 2018; Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace, 2017). Support for
anti-bullying policy is further available from the grey literature. To this end, Bytheway et al. (2012)
suggested that considering staff health implications along with potential economic costs, it is fitting for
employers to develop and deliver bullying prevention and treatment policy together with complaint
procedures. However, the design and implementation of such policy is no guarantee of success. Scholarly
literature draws attention to challenges that hold potential to undermine the effectiveness of the
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anti-bullying policy of which developers should be aware. For instance, while it is posited that antibullying policies send a message that this activity will be promptly tackled (Mood Disorders Society of
Canada, 2014), fair and unbiased assessments of bullying claims should not be presumed. Butterworth
et al. (2016, p. 1093) make the point, ‘there is little incentive to report workplace bullying when there is
no clear pathway to resolve disputes and those who report bullying risk further victimization and loss of
career opportunities.’ Vickers (2014, p. 108) also comments, ‘any failure to protect the health and wellbeing of targeted employees, by bullies, or by any worker charged with protecting them, such as line- or
HR-managers, is not just poor management, but corruption.’ The personal impacts following such
corrupt behaviour can be considerable. When targets make formal grievances and have management
undervalue these complaints or side with the bully, these persons can end up resigning (Karatuna, 2015).
These kinds of procedural failures hold particular implications for diversity promotion policies,
endeavouring to increase the representation of a staff with disabilities (including persons who identify as
neurodiverse). In this regard, corrupted bullying reporting and assessment procedures might allow
supervisors and HR managers to ‘move on’ mentally diverse individuals.
Interference in bullying claim processes can originate from a variety of sources. Vickers (2014) warns
that bullies can attempt to influence process results. Moreover, relief from bullying cannot be assumed
to come from consultants who are charged to ‘independently’ assess allegations. According to Shallcross,
Ramsay, and Barker (2013), consultants might hold a biased interest in attaining organizational results
so as to attain future contracts. Following on, the reach of mobbing should not be underestimated as
potential exists for this inappropriate behaviour to infiltrate the bullying investigations themselves.
Workplace anti-bully policy should, therefore, endorse independent audits of unsuccessful claims as
lodged by staff (including those who are neurodiverse). Importantly, these audits should be regularly
conducted by professionals who do not hold comfortable contractual relationships with employers.
Education
Education is another area where concentrated efforts are needed to help redress the bullying of neuro­
diverse employees. This measure is again recognized across specialized and generic mental health
promotion guides (AHRC, 2010; AHS, 2014; Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace,
2017; WorkCover SA, 2012). Support for greater neurodiversity awareness can be found in the scholarly
literature. Underlying a need to confront popular misconceptions about mental disorders, Palmer and
Ross (2014, p. 29) noted, ‘most historical portrayals of mental patients reinforce public perceptions of
the mentally ill as needing a different order of control and treatment than is required for any other type
of illness or behaviour.’ For HR practitioners, supervisors and other staff whose perceptions about mental
diversity and bullying behaviours are compatible with these negative depictions, workplaces might assist
in availing alternate and accurate information. Education may also target mobbing behaviour. Mulder et
al. (2016, p. 216) suggested, ‘workplace mobbing interventions should not only focus on victims and
perpetrators but on bystanders as well, for instance, through workshops, cultural change programmes,
coaching and performance appraisal interviews.’ Anti-mobbing education can thus be said to hold broad
audience reach and delivery mechanism potential.
Targeted education is also required around the topic of accommodating neurodiversity in the work­place.
Such accommodations are reasonable where they assist the employee and are not excessive in terms of cost,
disturbance or impracticality (Rethink, 2009). Nevertheless, grey literature and scholarly literature alike
recognize that even where deemed reasonable, the receipt of reasonable accommodations by neurodiverse
employees can be accompanied by harassment. Beecher (2003) cautions colleagues might rapidly become
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weary of staff with mental ill health receiving special conditions. Moreover, mistreatment around these
adjustments can include public shaming and highlighting a need for special conditions (Fevre et al., 2013
citing Foster, 2007). Also related to mental diversity accommodation requests and possible risks of bullying
is the organizational concept of resilience. Resiliency is a mechanism of recovering from challenging
experiences and developing individual strengths (AHS, 2014). Nonetheless, Bevan (2016, p. 15) notes, ‘if
resilience interventions comprise only ‘sheep dip’ training workshops for as many employees as possible
in the hope that they will be inoculated from badly designed jobs, bullying cultures, and empathy-free
managers, then I think we may have a problem.’ Following on, mentally diverse employees who need
reasonable accommodations should not be advised by armchair psychiatrists that they need to toughen up,
be resilient and carry on as ‘normal’. When it comes to neurodiverse staff accessing reasonable
accommodations to which they might desire, organizational concepts such as resilience should not be rolled
out by HR practitioners or supervisors in attempts to excuse bad decisions or bullying behaviours. Education
is needed to help advance understanding about neurodiversity in the workplace and subsequent reasonable
adjustments that some mentally diverse employees might require.
Legal
Broad support for legal protection against bullying can be found within specialized and generic mental
health promotion guides (CMHA, 2018; Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace,
2017; Mood Disorders Society of Canada, 2014; Rethink, 2009). From this perspective, it is not enough
for workplaces to consider only the physical health of staff. Across a multitude of jurisdictions, an
obligation exists for employers to safeguard both the physical and mental well-being of employees
(Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace, 2017). Anti-bullying legislation is producing
practical results. For instance, in Canada, case law has deemed employers accountable for exposing staff
to dangerous settings that have brought about psychological damage (CMHA, 2018). Guarding Minds@
Work (2009) and CMHA (2018) see contemporary legal requirements as prohibiting behaviour that
would have been allowed fewer than 10 years earlier. An important qualifier on this progress is that while
certain jurisdictions are taking workplace bullies to task through the use of legislation, the implementation
of this policy instrument is far from universal. Legislation positioning employers as being more
accountable for employees’ physical and psychological well-being is thus depicted as ‘evolving’ (CMHA,
2018, p. 57). Support for the legal anti-bullying measure as an instrument for protecting staff (including
those who identify as mentally diverse) from bullying can be found within the grey literature. Breden
(2014) elaborates that in Australia, anti-bully law as introduced in 2014, enables employees to issue
claims of alleged bullying via the Fair Work Commission. However, scholarly literature also recognizes
that even where laws, which endeavour to protect the rights of vulnerable employees, are in place, there
is no guarantee that these laws will be utilized. To this end, Worth and Squelch (2015, p. 1028) state, ‘the
risk of under-utilization of the anti-bullying jurisdiction by those for whom it was designed to help has
therefore been recognized.’ Future research is needed to reveal the barriers confronting a greater use of
anti-bullying legislation by employees, and in particular by staff who are neurodiverse, along with the
roles of policymakers and practitioners in redressing this situation.
Leadership
Specialized guides and guides catering to mental health promotion for staff (including neurodiverse
employees) position leadership as an effective anti-bullying measure (AHS, 2014; CMHA, 2018;
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Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace, 2017; Mood Disorders Society of Canada,
2014; Rethink, 2009). Indeed, leaders have a role to play in creating and sustaining a mentally safe work
environment (AHS, 2014). However, guides also warn of the potential for poor management to contribute
to workplace bullying. In this regard, controlling leaders and ones who seldom provide feedback raises
the prospect of workplace bullying (Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace, 2017).
The Mayo Clinic (2008) and CMHA (2018) also recognized micromanaging as a trigger for employee
burnout. Rather than improving work environments, the opposite can be said of these controlling
behaviours. Importantly, while workplace leaders should avoid partaking in bullying activity, neurodiverse
managers themselves are not immune from mistreatment in the workplace. In this context, Bevan (2016,
p. 15) explains, ‘senior managers are far less likely to disclose any lived experience of mental illness—
even in their families—for fear of this damaging their prospects for advancement or their internal and
external reputations for toughness.’ Managers (and others) who identify with neurodiversity should thus
be educated about their legal rights not to be bullied following their disclosure. In doing so, possible
synergies between anti-bullying measures (education, legal and leadership in this instance) might be
advanced. Perhaps one indicator as to how inclusive a workplace culture is in terms of embracing
neurodiversity is the extent to which organizational leaders (including HR managers) are able to disclose
their mental diversity without experiencing mistreatment and exclusion from future career development
opportunities.
Monitoring and Support
Anti-bullying monitoring and support activities are endorsed among specialized and generic guides
seeking to advance mental health in the workplace (AHS, 2014; CMHA, 2018; Rethink, 2009). This
measure has implications across areas of employee selection and retention. Holding relevance to
inclusive recruitment processes, the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace (2017)
guide calls for employers to be diversity conscious so as to avert exclusion, particularly around mental
health issues. Where diversity is shunned in selection procedures, possibilities abound for neurodiverse
candidates to experience bullying. Illustrating this point, Bevan (2016) describes an HR director whose
goal was to construct a psychometric tool that could weed out non-resilient candidates for positions.
Following on, biased selection panels who might equate mental diversity with poor resilience may apply
such a tool to test for signs of psychiatric conditions. Consequently, neurodiverse persons might be
bullied out of positions that they rightfully deserve on occasions where invasive psychometric analysis
returns a particular likelihood of them being non-neurotypical. Prospective employees with neurodiversity
or suspected of being neurodiverse might, therefore, find themselves as targets for workplace bullies.
A need thus exists to develop monitoring mechanisms that are sophisticated enough to identify
technologically assisted forms of bullying in candidate assessment procedures.
Detection and treatment of bullying behaviour are also required in efforts to help retain mentally
diverse employees. Vidot (2014) explains that some of these persons can feel team problems being
attributed to their conditions. Moreover, linking back to the leadership theme, Bytheway et al. (2012,
p. 14) indicate that ‘organizational culture/climate surveys and grievance proceedings can provide
evidence of problems caused by particular managers and management styles’. However, heeding the
aforementioned Vicker’s (2014) warning about the potential for corruption, it is possible that evidence
gained from staff surveys suggesting that some neurodiverse employees are being bullied might
be overlooked in unprincipled efforts to protect intolerant supervisors. Hence, the point is made that the
availability of workplace anti-bullying monitoring mechanisms alone is not enough. For workplaces to
demonstrate in a practical way that they are genuine about identifying and addressing the mistreatment
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of staff (including those who are neurodiverse), a requirement also exists to objectively observe behaviour
across all levels of the organization. Crucially, where bullying is detected, HR assistance should be
availed (Rethink, 2009).
Neurodiversity Anti-bullying Advancement from a Social Cognitive Theory Perspective
Social cognitive theory (SCT) highlights the part played by cognitions in shaping the behaviour of
individuals (Swearer, Wang, Berry, & Myers, 2014 citing Bandura, 1986). In line with SCT, persons are
inclined to shun behaviours to which they perceive their involvement will be penalized and participate
in those to which they see as being rewarded (Swearer et al., 2014 citing Bandura, 1977). This theory
holds practical relevance in terms of implementing each of the neurodiversity anti-bullying themes as
revealed by this investigative study. While ‘carrots’ (i.e., rewards) should be used at every opportunity
to help avoid the bullying of neurodiverse employees in the first instance, when such behaviour occurs
or is popularly repeated (as within toxic workplace cultures), ethical organizations should not hesitate to
apply the ‘stick’ of sanctions. Taking care to ensure that once identified, workplace bullies do not
themselves become bullied, penalties can take on many forms. Commencing with anti-bullying policy,
grievance assessment officers need to be aware of the risks to their professional reputations should
independent audits reveal that they have participated in the mobbing of neurodiverse claimants. Similarly,
the staff at any level of an organization who penalize mentally diverse staff for exercising their legal
rights should be made aware that such behaviour is unethical and will not be tolerated. Education about
neurodiversity in the workplace should be mandatory and management should formally call upon those
refusing to attend informational sessions to explain their tardiness. Neurodiverse leaders and others need
to feel confident that disclosure of their mental diversity in the workplace will be respected and that
people will be held accountable for any conduct to the contrary. Further, investment in independent
research is needed to expose organizations who bully existing or prospective staff out of career
advancement opportunities as warranted by their abilities. However, it is reasonable to suggest that
organizations who fail to value neurodiversity will be unlikely to welcome such research. This article
poses the following two key questions for readers to consider in relation to this previous point: (a) are
you aware of any organization (s) that would likely hold a poor attitude towards the prospects of having
independent research critically examine their performance in relation to neurodiversity employment?
and (b) for any organization (s) identified above, what rewards and/or penalties do you think might
encourage a change in this attitude?
Limitations
This exploratory study has notable limitations to which the author openly acknowledges. These include
the anti-bullying themes being informed by a small sample of mental health promotion guides. Evidence
from scholarly and grey literature was also purposefully confined to critically reviewing these themes. It
is, therefore, possible that broadened database searches and inclusion criteria as undertaken in any future
studies might identify themes and accompanying challenges that are not covered within the scope of this
investigative research. Hence, themes, as discussed in this article along with their critical assessments,
should not be considered as necessarily being comprehensive. Investment in future research is needed to
test and potentially expand upon these preliminary findings.
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South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases 9(1)
Conclusion
What capacity do mental health promotion guides have to help prevent or treat the bullying of neurodiverse employees? This study reveals three key messages that should be of interest to policymakers and
practitioners working in the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere. First, specialized and generic mental
health promotion guides as reviewed by this study collectively support anti-bullying themes across
dimensions of policy/procedures, education, legal, leadership and monitoring/support. Second, evidence
sourced from scholarly and grey literature raise challenges that if overlooked might reduce the
effectiveness of guide endorsed anti-bullying measures to support mentally diverse employees on
occasions where such assistance is needed. These include potential risks as follows: corrupted bullying
reporting and assessment procedures undermining diversity promotion policy; ignorance around a
possible need for personalized accommodations and neurodiversity more generally; underutilization of
the legal policy instrument; leaders (and others) experiencing mistreatment upon disclosure of their
neurodiversity; and monitoring mechanisms failing to detect neurodiversity targeted bullying behaviours
throughout phases of employment selection and retainment. Finally, this study raises the prospect that
anti-bullying measures to assist neurodiverse staff might be more effective when potential synergies
between these are recognized and encouraged. HR practitioners, counsellors and managers might,
therefore, find themselves drawing upon suites of measures in order to help prevent and treat the bullying
of employees who identify as neurodiverse.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of
this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
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